Massive Attack (A Guy Niava Thriller Book 1) Dana Arama (ebooks children's books free TXT) 📖

signed up for the cadet’s course. The only way to stand up to him was to start from the bottom. My long-term plan had forced me to abandon her over and over, leaving her in his hands. When she left the special science program for the exceptionally gifted, she’d hurled at me that she too had the right to run away, to leave… I could have told her that I ran away too and I did it because I didn’t think he would harass such a young girl. I could have told her that even after I left, every night before I went to bed I wanted to vomit. But I didn’t say anything. Instead, I’d tried to persuade her to stay in the program. That was also a long-term investment.

“Gail! You’re alive,” I said, and tried to sit up. The Mexican that held the weapon above me pushed me back down with his very heavy boot. I could have kicked him in the balls or rolled over and dragged him with me and smashed his head on the floor, but it wasn’t worth the risk that he would shoot wildly around the room. Instead I chose to remain still. Any movement in this tense room might bring on a world war. I turned to look at my younger sister and asked, “Do you want to put in a good word for me here?”

“I am more interested in throwing your girlfriend here into a deep pit and burying her” Gail answered.

“This woman is not my friend, but she is here for mutual gain.” I tried to wipe the blood from my head. It had already begun to clot. “We need information on a certain deal. We need to know the origin of the payment.”

“Is that why you are here, Laura?”

“I came because my investigations led me to believe that you were here with a rising star in the Sinaloa.” I smiled, knowing that I looked more pathetic than ever. “Since you disappeared, I haven’t stopped looking for you.”

“That’s touching,” she answered dryly, without taking her eyes off Zorro.

“I am serious, everyone is worried about you.”

“Everyone?” she exaggerated the word ‘everyone’. “Does the ‘everyone’ include our dear uncle?”

I turned to look at all the others in the room. They were all staring at Gail. I said, “Come back home with me, to the United States. Come home with me and together we will stand up to him.”

I was afraid she would say it was too late. Gail gestured around the room with her gun and said, “I,” she smiled, “am at home. It is you who are not in your place.”

“I understand that there is a family connection,” Guy smiled and put his gun down slowly. “I am prepared to mitigate some of this tension, as I too am here for family business.”

I knew that his calming smile, his slow lowering of his gun and his easygoing voice hid what a warrior could do in a fleeting second. He continued speaking calmly, “We can decide together how we’re going to end this affair.”

With his free hand he pointed to Zorro and announced, “You are not shooting anyone.” A quick smile and a sly movement of the head. He added, “Unless I tell you to shoot.”

El Desconocido noted, “We are at a balance of terror. You have two guns and so do we. But the fact that I don’t want to get hit with a bullet is significant here. I am willing to sit and hear what you have to say.”

“No sitting, and no sudden movements,” Guy said. He had a warning look about him that showed that the relaxed attitude he’d worn mere moments ago was a thin and temporary disguise.

El Desconocido raised his hands in surrender and agreed, “No movements. I would rather pull out a bottle of tequila and not guns, but it doesn’t seem feasible at the moment.”

Gail announced that she would like to have tequila, and Zorro commanded her to be still. For years I had watched Zorro. Our fencing team had shown us footage on her, and together with the coaches we would analyze her movements. This was how I got to know her. I saw something in her countenance I had never seen before. It wasn’t her determination to win. Zorro had competed against me numerous times and I had never seen a look of hatred that was on her face now, so tight-lipped and fiery eyed. It was hatred for my younger sister. Hatred glowing out of a person trained to kill. For all those years I had abandoned Gail, I owed her big time, and I supposed I could start by protecting her from Zorro’s rage.

The Mexican above me was concentrating on the conversation in the room. It wouldn’t be hard to overcome him and take the gun from his hand and shoot Zorro. She was directly in my line of fire. I took a deep breath, counted to three and… Guy moved forward and stood between Zorro and me.

“We are not a traitorous team and we have no intention of leaving here with you.” Guy sounded calm and sure of himself. “I do expect to get information from you about the drug deal you have struck with Murat Lenika from the east coast.”

“I cannot admit to having struck such a deal at all.”

“I don’t need you to admit it. I need to know the origin of the money being paid out for such a transaction.”

“Why would you need this information?”

Guy thought for a moment. He was weighing the risk of revealing the information at hand and when he decided to talk, he did so briefly. “The factors who paid for the deal are planning a large-scale terrorist attack.”

“What interest do I have in giving you such information?”

“You won’t gain from the terror attack. At worst, you will lose, because if it is found out that your cartel was involved in this there will be another reason to attack you, and this time